The Marvell MacchiatoBIN is notable for combining a relatively low price with support for high-end networking features like OpenDataPlane (ODP), OpenFastPath (OFP) and ARM network functions virtualization (NFV). Linaro’s ODP, which was announced back in 2013, is an open source data plane API that enables Linux software portability between networking SoCs, regardless of the underlying chip architecture.

OpenFastPath is an open source implementation of a high performance TCP/IP stack. ARM NFV — ARM’s fairly recent answer to Intel’s NFV — is designed to work with ODP to enable virtual network function (VNF) applications, such as deploying virtual set-top boxes.

Marvell’s Armada 8040 (88F8040) supplies far more networking support and overall firepower than the single- or dual-Cortex-A9 Armada 38x found on the 38x-MicroSOM computer-on-module that drives the ClearFog boards. Marvell also offers a similar dual-core sibling called the Armada 8020.

Marvel Armada 8040 block diagram
(click image to enlarge)

Unlike the ClearFog and HummingBoard SBCs, the MacchiatoBIN does not house the SoC on a separate COM. The Armada 8040 is hidden under a heatsink needed to dissipate the heat from four Cortex-A72 cores that can run at up to 2GHz. There’s no GPU on this headless SoC, but you get networking acceleration, including a packet processor with a security co-processor, and DMA and XOR (RAID 5/6 acceleration) engines.

The Armada 8040 also implements Marvell’s Modular Chip (MoChi) architecture and associated MoChi interconnect (MCI), which “enables driver-transparent expansion beyond the standard device offering.” MCI is said to support the MacchiatoBIN’s dual 10GbE and single 2.5GbE and 1GbE Ethernet ports, as well as the 4x PCIe 3.0, USB 3.0, 3x SATA 3.0, and microSD 3.0 interfaces.

The SoC’s MoChI/MCI functionality is expressed via a USB-C port, and “is essentially transparent to the driver,” says Marvell. All the connected MCI interfaces appear to drivers as though they were integrated functions of the SoC itself, enabling a Virtual System-on-Chip (vSoC) implementation, says the chip designer.

The Marvell MacchiatoBIN ships with 4GB or 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and offers unspecified, possibly optional amounts of SPI and eMMC flash. The microSD slot is available with an optional, empty 8GB card.

In addition to the I/O listed farther above, you get USB 2.0 and UART headers, a JTAG interface, and a Marvell TDM low-speed module expansion header. The TDM header includes SPI, I2C, TDM, and power interfaces. A Mini-ITX case is standard, and power supplies for the 12V input are optional.